Daily Archives: March 22, 2010

After the somewhat dissapointing end to HRT’s Bahrain Grand Prix, the team are looking for improvements ahead of the Australian Grand Prix next weekend. According to team principal Colin Kolles, the team is targeting a race finish. He said:

“We have worked extremely hard since the Bahrain season opener. We have worked
long hours and successfully with Bridgestone, Cosworth and Xtrac learned from
our first laps with the car and found a good basis from which to start
preparation for our second Grand Prix in Australia in a few days.
We have successfully repaired the damage sustained by Karun Chandhok’s car and
focused on building our car’s reliability. Our goal is to improve steadily and
the next step is to work towards our first race finish. I am confident we will
achieve this goal very soon and having seen how we came together as a team in
Bahrain I can see just how much potential and commitment we have.”

Bruno Senna, before a radiator leak causes him to retire

First driver Bruno Senna did get 17 laps in the race, but then the car overheated thanks to a radiator leak, causing retirement. However, the Brazilian is happy with the team’s performance in Bahrain, an hopes to build on that in Melbourne:

“We need to continue building on what we achieved in Bahrain. We put two cars
together and ran successfully in Bahrain. Now we must continue to work as a
team. I came early to Australia to acclimatise to the time difference. I love
Australia more and more, as I spend more time here! I have already driven on
the Melbourne track, back in 2006.
I did the F3 support race for F1 back then and had a fairly successful weekend.
I won! Now, I must work with the team to continue learning about the car. I
have enjoyed working long hours with the team so far and I will be giving my
all as I really want to progress and guarantee them good results.”

Karun Chandhok just after his crash on Lap 2

Meanwhile, Karun Chandhok had a much harder time. He wasn’t able to run the car in Friday practice thanks to technical problems. He drove the car for the first time in qualifying, and was only 1.7 seconds behind his team-mate after only 2 laps in the car, which is pretty impressive. He still wasn’t used to the car, however, and crashed on Lap 2 of the race. Chandhok is now looking forward to the race in Australia:

“I am really looking forward to my second F1 race this weekend. I have never
driven in Melbourne, but I am a very quick learner. I was able to work on a
team’s simulator before the Grand Prix so that will help my familiarisation a
little bit! Our next step with the team’s engineers is to make the car
reliable for the race. The secret of good racing preparation is to complete
as many laps as possible on Friday to see where we are with the car. Finishing the
race would be a fantastic achievement we will strive for.”

With the complete lack of track time, HRT did what they could in Bahrain. I don’t actually think they will, nor do I expect them to, finish in Melbourne, because of the track’s car-breaker record. Still, if they can set consistent laps for about 20 laps or so, then I would be happy with them. Naturally, with much more track time, I’m hoping for at least one finish each from Lotus and Virgin. All of this will change by Barcelona (Race 5), and I will be expecting race finishes by all three teams by then.

Joan Villadelprat, the head of the Epsilon Euskadi team, has said that his squad is aiming to get into Formula 1 next year from 2011, after failing in its attempts last year.

While Epsilon Euskadi was on the shortlist for the 2010 grid spot, the place eventually went to the completely incompetent USF1, who promptly bottled it, and retracted their entry a week before the first race. The lack of time meant that no other team could be picked in time. However, Villadeprat is hopeful that his team can mount a more successful challenge for next year:

"We were ready in June, we had the financial support, but for whatever reasons
we were not chosen.
We will reopen the project and my job is to re-gather all of the support that
we had. If the FIA gives us enough time to be ready for next year, we can be in F1."

Villadelprat is not to be taken lightly, having been working for no less than 5 F1 teams over his lifetime. At the moment, his team works in the Le Mans Series, World Series by Renault, and the Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup. They have also worked with many well-known drivers like Robert Kubica, Brandon Hartley, Jaime Alguersuari and Albert Costa. Like Stefan GP, they have good resources behind them, but it will still be down to the FIA to decide who gets the spot.

Stefan GP have announced today that they have ended their technical partnership with Toyota. The Serbian team, led by Zoran Stefanovich, had bought Toyota gearboxes, chassis and engines in expectation of getting a grid slot this year. However, since their application was rejected by the FIA, there will be no need for this partnership this year.

Stefanovich said:

"For 2010, it's not feasible to do it anymore. We are very grateful to Toyota, which is a great company and doing a
great job in what they are doing. They are now organising things differently - they are now more profit-centered in
TMG in Cologne.
We are looking for a solution which is feasible for us all the time. At the moment there is no opportunity to
organise anything. We're basically looking to see which direction we will go in the very near future."

After this, he stated that another partnership with the Cologne squad was possible if the team were looking into applying for the 2011 F1 championship. At the moment, the FIA are open to submissions for the 13th grid place, and the reserve team. It is currently unclear if Stefan GP are going to apply for this position.

Hopefully they will, having come so close this year. To get hold of a reliable supply of vital car parts like they did is a great way of starting up an F1 team, and hopefully they can do the same next year. If they don’t, then they’re just giving up to a governing body which seriously mishandled what should have been a welcome sight, seeing many new teams in F1.